Chandos House Treatment for Addiction CIChttp://chandoshouse.org
All of you is welcomeFri, 14 Sep 2018 13:32:03 +0000en-GBhourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.8REHAB: NO, NO, NOhttp://chandoshouse.org/rehab-no-no-no/
Tue, 04 Sep 2018 12:48:23 +0000http://chandoshouse.org/?p=1832Drug-related deaths in the UK are rising each year, but council spending on rehab centres has been slashed by up to 58%, HuffPost reveals today. As part of our ‘Austerity Bites’ series this week, we cover the closure of Chandos House in Bristol following “swingeing austerity” cuts. It’s left the city without a single residential rehab centre.

Analysis by HuffPost UK found that over two-thirds of councils who responded to an FOI request have budgeted to spend less on residential rehab and detox services. Some local authorities have made significants cuts this year, including Bolton which has cut the budget by 58%; Lambeth, which has cut its budget by 57%; and West Sussex and Leeds, which had both cut budgets by 54%.

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By Paul Waugh

]]>Deaths Rise As Two-Thirds Of Local Authorities Cut Spending On Drug And Alcohol Rehabhttp://chandoshouse.org/deaths-rise-as-two-thirds-of-local-authorities-cut-spending-on-drug-and-alcohol-rehab/
Tue, 04 Sep 2018 12:25:38 +0000http://chandoshouse.org/?p=1821Austerity Bites: Councils reduce funding for residential treatment by as much as 58%.
By Nicola Slawson. Original article posted by The Huffington Post click to read.

Spending on residential drug and alcohol treatment is being “significantly de-prioritised” by local authorities in England, forcing centres to close or downgrade services, figures have revealed.

The latest casualty is Chandos House in Bristol, which has just announced it is being forced to close in the face of “swingeing austerity” cuts, leaving the city without a single residential rehab centre.

As the number of drug-related deaths rises each year, leading figures in the drug and alcohol treatment sector argue that spending on treatment should be going up, and that the cuts may even be contributing to the rise in numbers.

The figures obtained by a Freedom of Information request by a leading private addiction treatment service, UKAT, show spending on residential rehab and detox treatment in England has been reduced by 15% since 2013/14.

It was in that year that the government removed the ring-fence which had forced local authorities to spend certain amounts on drug and alcohol treatment.

UKAT say this decision was a “catalyst for disaster” as overall drugs deaths hit record levels for the fourth year in a row.

Residential rehab and detox services are often the best option for the most vulnerable addicts, who are at the highest risk of dying from drug and alcohol problems. This is because it takes them out of situations where they will be exposed to other addicts and their mental and physical health is looked after alongside their treatment, according to the experts.

However, the picture is likely to be much worse as only 61 local authorities responded to the request for information.

The total amount spent on rehab and detox services has plummeted by almost £4 million over the last four years. There has also been a reduction in the percentage of spend on rehab and detox, even though the actual Public Health Grant for the 61 councils went up by £233m.

Analysis by HuffPost UK found that over two-thirds of councils who responded to the FOI request have budgeted to spend less on residential rehab and detox services.

Some local authorities have made significants cuts this year, including Bolton which has cut the budget by 58%; Lambeth, which has cut its budget by 57%; and West Sussex and Leeds, which had both cut budgets by 54%.

All of the ten councils who have cut their budgets the most have seen a rise in drug-related deaths during the last six years, according to the latest ONS figures.

Of the worst, Bolton has seen a 13% rise, Lambeth a 69% rise, West Sussex a 55% rise and Leeds, where 159 people died from drug related deaths in 2017, has seen a 89% rise since 2010-12.

It’s not just residential treatment which has seen cuts. Earlier this year, it was revealed that £162m (18%) has been cut from the budgets for drug and alcohol services in England since 2013-14.

Seven out of 10 councils in England made cuts to the amount they planned to spend on drug and alcohol services and of those councils, 83% saw an increase in drug-related deaths.

he problems began when the coalition government of 2011 decided to transfer responsibility for drug and alcohol treatment to local authorities, Jan Melichar, a fellow and spokesman for the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said.

The later removal of the ringfencing exacerbated the problem as it meant local authorities put spending for drug and alcohol treatment to the “bottom of the pile”, he said.

The most vulnerable are often those most likely to benefit from residential treatment, he said.

He said: “The saddest thing is some of my addicts, who have committed a crime, will say ‘I’m glad I have been caught because I can go to prison for a bit of time out.’ That’s how bad their lives are.

“When they want to turn it around and get better and move on, rehab offers them that opportunity by allowing them to stay somewhere and be surrounded by people who accept where they have been and what’s happened to them but want them to continue moving on with their lives rather than getting back into using drugs.”

When rehab centres like Chandos House close, it’s those people who “just won’t get better”, he added.

The cuts to budgets for treatment don’t just contribute to the rise in drug-related deaths but put additional pressure on other already stretched services, especially the NHS and the prison service, he said.

″The people that are really tough to treat, the services have gone for them. What you see is repeated A&E visits, long hospital stays to treat illnesses such as liver disease, more crime and prison sentences.

“You see more homeless people on the streets these days because they’ve got nowhere to go to get better. That’s the heaviest and saddest part of it.

“In the future, [the cuts] will have massive costs to society. More will occupy hospital beds, more will be sent to prison for extended stays where they are just being held and not treated, more will be homeless. More will die. It’s very sad.”

Eytan Alexander, founder of UKAT, said: “More and more government-funded rehabs are closing because of budget cuts, yet overall, more and more people are dying from drug misuse than ever before; the way in which the Public Health Grant is being spent just doesn’t make sense.

“Removing the ring-fenced drug and alcohol treatment services budget was a catalyst for disaster. We urge councils to make better decisions with regards to investing in public rehab and detox facilities rather than forcing this free treatment to disappear.”

Paul Hayes of Collective Voice, which represents eight of the largest third sector providers of drug and alcohol treatment services, said local authorities weren’t to blame as the cuts were happening within the context of austerity.

“People aren’t going to demonstrate on the streets because budgets for drug and alcohol treatment have been cut like they might if it was a library”Paul Hayes, Collective Voice

“As the amount of money available reduces, and some councils have cut significantly more than others, local authorities themselves have had their budgets cut [by government]. Everyone knows the pressures that Northamptonshire are under, for example.

“This is happening within that context so it’s important that we’re not seen to be blaming local authorities as such. They have been placed in very difficult positions and the reality is that drug and alcohol treatment is particularly vulnerable.”

He said the entire system is under pressure so it doesn’t surprise him that residential centres such as Chandos House in Bristol are facing closure.

“It’s a population that isn’t politically popular either with local politicians, the electorate or the media. People aren’t going to demonstrate on the streets because budgets for drug and alcohol treatment have been cut like they might if it was a library.

“It’s a population that to a large extent is hidden and the consequences are hidden,” he said.

He said that it’s the quality of care which reduces rather than necessarily the numbers being treated. Access to residential rehab is one of the areas which is affected as people are offered much cheaper treatment services such as those offered in community settings.

“The number of people being treated has held up well and the waiting times has held up well. They are the key numbers that Public Health England are interested in but that’s been bought at a price.”

Even the government’s own drug strategy, which was brought out in 2017, says that treatment isn’t enough. It recognises that in order for people to fully recover from drugs, they need to have a job, a place to live, have access to mental health treatment and that their physical health needs to be looked after.

Hayes said a “lifetime of drug use, smoking and inappropriate alcohol use” leaves addicts particularly vulnerable as they often have numerous health conditions particularly their heart, lung and liver function. This is what makes them prone to overdose, he said.

“What you’ve got is not a situation of people being trapped outside the system, but what we’re able to offer the people within the system is becoming truncated. There is less choice and less opportunities to work on all the things that need to sit alongside the bare bones of treatment for them to actually recover in the long term.”

Steve Moffatt, public policy manager of leading addiction charity Addaction, said that residential rehabs are relatively expensive compared to other services.

“I’m not querying the validity of people using them because there can be huge benefits and we definitely support them when it’s evidenced that an individual can benefit from them.

“But within some areas local commissioners will look at the expense, and because cuts are being made, they’ll just try to keep as much primary service in tact … so they might say that if they have to cut the budget for drug and alcohol treatment, this is where we’ll cut it.”

A spokesman for the Local Government Association, which represents local authorities, said that councils are committed to ensuring that those people affected by drug and alcohol problems get the right support and treatment.

“Providing well-funded, targeted and effective substance misuse services is vital,” he said. “In the past year, local authorities spent more than £700 million on tackling substance misuse and are commissioning services to enable people to beat addiction and sustain their recovery.

“However, cuts to councils’ public health grant by central government means have consequences. We have long argued that reductions by central government to the public health grant in local government is a short-term approach and one that will only compound acute pressures for the NHS and other services further down the line.

“Reductions in the public health grant to councils need to be reversed and more money needs to be invested in cost-effective prevention and recovery work.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: “Both alcohol consumption and drug misuse have fallen in recent years, and addiction services remain free of charge and available to all.

“However, we are committed to doing more. We are working to protect the most vulnerable from the illicit drug trade – and developing a new alcohol strategy.

“We are also giving local authorities £16 billion over the current spending period for public health services including addiction treatment.”

The government also said that while local authorities have responsibility for how they spend their public health grant, the conditions of the grant make it clear that they must have regard for the need to improve the take up of, and outcomes from, their drug and alcohol misuse treatment services as well as the need to reduce health inequalities.

]]>‘We’ve Hit Rock Bottom’: Bristol’s Last Residential Drug Rehab Centre To Close Its Doorshttp://chandoshouse.org/weve-hit-rock-bottom-bristols-last-residential-drug-rehab-centre-to-close-its-doors/
Tue, 04 Sep 2018 11:28:48 +0000http://chandoshouse.org/?p=1795As Chandos House faces the end, a former resident reflects on how it saved his life.

Julian Maddern is back in Bristol for a visit, reminiscing about the city where he finally got clean after 32 years of being an alcoholic and a drug addict. He says he knows with “100 percent certainty” that he would be dead if it wasn’t for the treatment he received at the city’s last remaining rehab centre, Chandos House.

Bristol, which used to have a number of residential centres, will be left without a single rehab faciliity when the facility, which works with men who have PTSD and a history of severe trauma and abuse, closes its doors in 10 weeks’ time.

Despite a desperate fundraising appeal to save the 15-bed treatment centre, backed by writer Will Self and comedian Russell Brand, managers have been unable to reach their target.

But what’s happened to services in Bristol is being replicated across England, as £162m has been cut from drug and alcohol treatment budgets since 2013-14.

Services like Chandos House have been impacted particularly acutely by this, as people are often sent to residential rehab centres outside their own area, which means Chandos House receives funding from a number of local councils, not just Bristol City.

Two thirds of local authorities that responded to a Freedom of Information request from drug treatment service UKAT reported budgets for residential detox and rehab treatment were being reduced.

Maddern, 48, began drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis from the age of eight when his parents broke up. For the next ten years, he had no contact with his mother. He was an alcoholic by the age of 12.

Originally from Cornwall, he worked as a deep sea fisherman for a number of years, and finally got clean at the age of 40 during a six-month stay at Chandos House.

Maddern had spent stints of time in prison and had been issued with drug treatment orders by judges, and by the time he got help, first at a detoxification centre in Plymouth before rehab at the house in Bristol, there were few drugs he wasn’t using.

“You name it, and I was on it,” he said. “They’s never anyone in the detox centre that had been on as much medication, as well as using [heroin] and as well as drinking at the same time.”

Julian Maddern and his daughter.

When he went to Chandos House, he was diagnosed with ADHD. Staff also learned that he couldn’t read or write.

“I used to blame my upbringing and stuff but I think it’s actually because I felt I wasn’t accepted in society. I felt like the world was fighting me and nobody understood me.

“I didn’t know how to ask for help. It’s what led me on my journey of self-destruction. I always refused help because I didn’t want to waste anyone’s time.”

When he finally agreed to go into rehab, it was the scariest moment he had ever experienced, he said.

“When I went down the steps, it felt like the riskiest thing I’ve ever done in my life, and I have done some scary things in my lifetime. When I got inside and was accepted in, I just felt there was something about the place. I could never, never describe how it felt.

“I went in as a 40-year-old, but really I was an eight-year-old adult. I was very angry and very upset. I did not know how to deal with emotions. I felt like a newborn baby being taught how to walk.”

It was three months into the treatment that Maddern had a breakthrough during group therapy.

“All I had wanted was for someone to say that I was really doing a good job. One day I sat in the seat during group and it was an amazing feeling. I said ‘I don’t need anyone to say that I’m an okay person, I don’t need anyone to say that I’m a lovely person. I know that I am’.

“Before it was always me doing negative stuff that I was getting feedback from. But it was learning that I need to be gentle and loving towards myself. I also learnt that it’s okay to cry, it’s okay to yell and scream.”

“If it wasn’t for Chandos House, there is no way on earth I would be here today. I would be dead. I know that 100 percent.”

Maddern’s life has changed dramatically since he left the house. He has completed 26 college courses and volunteered with a charity, which helped people in recovery.

He also reconnected with his mother while he was having treatment. She had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer and died three years after her son left Chandos “but it didn’t want to make me use again because she was so proud of me,” Maddern said.

Most dramatic of all, he became a father after three-and-a-half years of being clean and sober. His daughter, who was born at 26 weeks, has chronic lung disease. Two years ago, he was granted sole custody of her.

“There is no chance I could have done it if I’d been using drugs and alcohol. That’s why treatment centres are so important. I really wish my daughter’s mum could go into treatment. Some people cannot [get clean] with just going to a meeting or appointment.”

In a statement announcing the closure of Chandos House, head of treatment James Dickinson, whose mother founded the centre 35 years ago, said they were unable to maintain the “vital” service due to not raising sufficient funds.

He added: “We would like to thank Will Self and Russell Brand in particular for their hard work in promoting our cause, and for highlighting our plight in the face of swingeing austerity.

We would also like to thank our hundreds of friends who have in recent weeks joined our struggle to survive. We will continue our work until our closure, and we remain hopeful for the miracle that might yet revive our fortune.”

On Monday as news began to spread, Dickinson said he remained “relentlessly optimistic” that the centre would get a reprieve, but also said it would “take a miracle”.

He added: “Our demise was born out of a severe lack of understanding of this global problem.”

Prior to the announcement, Dickinson spoke to HuffPost UK about how the centre had struggled to remain open in the case of funding cuts.

He said: “The budget for rehab has been gradually reduced over the years, but it seems more severely in recent years and it will continue to do so.

More money is being put towards mental health services and youth services but that leaves lots of people in a vulnerable position, dying on the streets.

There are some great frontline harm reduction services, but some men – and women – do need residential treatment. The aim is to reintegrate them back into the community so they can contribute to society, as men, fathers, sons, brothers.”

Bristol has seen a 32 percent rise in drug-related deaths since 2011-13, analysis of figures released by the ONS show. There were 86 drug-related deaths in 2017 in the city. Local authority cuts is a major factor in the rise, according to Dickinson.

“Funding cuts mean lots of people don’t have access to continued care and end up back on the streets and perhaps dis-engaging with services, making them more vulnerable and at greater risk of harm,” he said.

“Once someone has been clean, the risk of overdosing is potentially also much higher. Some of the drugs available now may also be much more harmful due to the ingredients – mixing heroin with fentanyl for example, or cutting with [epilepsy drug] Pregabalin. Spice has also become a real issue, because it can cause psychosis.”

Dickinson stressed that those who have drug and alcohol addictions are also “suffering with mental health needs like severe depression, trauma which often leads to isolation, self-harming and a greater risk of suicide”.

He and the rest of the team had been preparing contingency plans in case the worst happened and will “ensure proper support and transition plans are in place for the men currently in the house”.

Bristol-based psychiatrist Jan Melichar, a fellow with the Royal College of Psychiatrists who has worked with Chandos House, said the picture in Bristol is being replicated across the whole of England.

Problems began, he said, when the coalition government of 2011 decided to transfer responsibility for drug and alcohol treatment to local authorities. The ring-fence which had been in place to ensure some funding from the Public England Grant would go to drug and alcohol services was removed two years later.

Melichar told HuffPost: “If you are a local authority in charge or housing and clearing rubbish, libraries and things, [addicts] are at the bottom of the pile. If they cause problems, it will be problems mainly with criminality and health and to a limited extent homelessness, criminality and health are not in their budget, so it doesn’t matter to them. It always comes at the bottom of the pile in terms of funding.

“So what’s happened is the past five or six years, the funding has been cut by at least 50 percent across England and the outcomes of that have been stark. You have seen rehab places like Chandos House shutting.”

He said Bristol used to boast five or six residential rehab centres to choose from, each with specialisms, so the best place for each individual could be determined based on whether they wanted to learn more practical skills, or needed extra support because they had experienced domestic abuse.

“Now Chandos House is the only one left,” Melichar added.

And it’s not just residential rebab services that have been cut. “The funding for all treatment services has been cut hugely … We’ve hit rock bottom,” the psychiatrist said.

Melichar now mainly works across the border in Wales. Despite being less than 100 miles away, the situation couldn’t be more different.

“It’s quite nice to be back in Wales, which has avoided this. It feels like a service that has compassion and care as opposed to a service that has just run out of money and there isn’t anything,” he said.

“I have still been helping out at Chandos House, but I haven’t sought to get paid by them in the last couple of years because they have just been running on hope and subsidies from the owner.

Sadly, they have sadly reached the end of the line. Once all this deeply entrenched expertise has gone, it will take years to recover. You can’t magically resuscitate these places. It’s just tragic.”

Bristol councillor Asher Craig, cabinet member for communities and equalities, said the council spends more than £8m each year on services to help treat and prevent substance misuse.

It recently re-commissioned these to ensure support continues, and to award five-year contracts to give providers some stability and a better ability to plan for the future, she said.

“Like all local authorities we are grappling with the real-world effects of government austerity – having less funding available whilst the demand for services continues to grow,” Cllr Craig added.

“There’s no simple answer to the problem and we know that each individual has a unique story about why they started using drugs. In Bristol we’ve continued to invest in a range of comprehensive treatment services which are focused on connecting people to help in their communities and making it as easy as possible to get support.

“A number of factors contribute to drug-related deaths and we have a high proportion of people with complex physical and mental health needs in the city.

A spokeswoman for the council said it was still funding people to go into rehab at Chandos House, but that the facility is one of a number of different centres used and is funded by other local authorities.

Plymouth City Council, which also funds places at Chandos House, have also been approached for a comment by HuffPost UK.

]]>Bristol’s last residential rehab centre Chandos House facing closure after severe funding cutshttp://chandoshouse.org/bristols-last-residential-rehab-centre-chandos-house-facing-closure-after-severe-funding-cuts/
Mon, 03 Sep 2018 12:33:06 +0000http://chandoshouse.org/?p=1824It has saved hundreds of lives over the last 35 years, but it could close with funding slashed by Government and the local authority

“They saved my life. I won’t be here without them.”

That is the general consensus of the Chandos brothers - the men who have come through the doors of Bristol’s last residential rehabilitation centre.

Chandos House in Redland, Bristol has made a desperate ‘crisis appeal’ after its funding was slashed by more than half.

If it doesn’t make £100,000 to keep it going for another three months, it could shut its doors before the end of the year.

Cuts by Government has led to a smaller pot for local authorities, which means places like Chandos House can no longer stay financially viable.

But this place is not just about numbers or account books - it has become home for hundreds of men who have battled severe addiction or trauma for years.

As Mark Taffs puts it: “I would be dead without them. They taught me to love myself again.”

Staring at death

Taffy was a former resident at Chandos

Mark, popularly known as Taffy, struggled for years with alcohol addiction. Starting when he was just 12, the Staple Hill boy could never kick the habit.

At his worst, he was drinking 12 cans of cider and a litre bottle of vodka everyday. His relationship with his wife and children broke down, and his parents did not know what to do with him. He had become a chronic alcoholic.

“I was basically drinking from the moment I opened my eyes every morning to the moment I passed out. That was my life,” Taffy recalled.

In 2010, he was rushed to the Bristol Royal Infirmary after suffering from multiple organ failure. He was at his deathbed, and staring at death.

He said: “I didn’t think I was going to make it. I just believed I was an angry drinker, an alcoholic, and that I was going to die.

“I didn’t want to continue treatment. I went through primary [treatment] and was thinking to try and get everyone off my back and then, go back drinking.

“I didn’t want to stop, I couldn’t stop the drink and the cocaine.”

He was sent to Chandos House for recovery. Having been an alcoholic for all of his adult life, Taffy didn’t think he would make it.

Chandos House is struggling to survive

He explained: “I walked down the path to the house and something clicked in me. I didn’t want my old life back. But I did not really know what to do.”

On the first night at Chandos, Taffy sat down and wrote a letter to James Dickinson, the head of recovery and executive director.

“I’m an alcoholic. If you want me to leave, then tell me to f*** off, and I will,” he wrote.

But it never happened. The Chandos brothers - as they call themselves - took him in. An initial two-week stay became three and a half months. He found home.

‘Saved my life’

A second home

“Between James and his mum, Joyce, they taught me I wasn’t a bad bloke. They taught me the basics of life, like how to live with other people,” Taffy recalled.

“I believed I was a bad person. I did. Joyce taught me I could love myself. James was the same. They saved my life.

“It was embarrassing at first, and I didn’t want to admit everything, about how I had cocked up my life.”

Taffy has stayed teetotal for seven and a half years. In the last few years, he has started talking to his children and ex-wife again. He remarried, had another child, and a granddaughter to take care of. His parents have reconnected.

After graduating with a diploma in health and social care, he went back to help. That is what the Chandos brothers are instilled with.

He worked as a peer mentor with several Bristol charities, and now also leads Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) groups.

“I knew it was something I had to do - give back. You know, when I came here, I had a big ego, but a very low self worth,” he added.

“Now, I have a very high self worth, and a small ego.

“If Chandos closes, it will be devastating. Everything I have today is thanks to them. They have saved my life.

Talking through their issues

“It’s not just at the end of treatment - you can come back whenever you need.

“When I was going through Hepatitis C treatment, I felt suicidal. I was depressed, and wanted to kill myself.

“I rang James and he said to me: ‘Pack a bag and come up here’. That was his first response. He didn’t even think about it.

“You know, when you pass a certain age, it is hard to ask for help, but it’s there.”

A band of brothers

A brotherhood

Addiction counsellor and senior practitioner Pete Weinstock would know. Having worked at Chandos for five years - with another 22 years with other addiction services - he explained what many of the men who come through are facing.

“They have developed a very hard shell, a hard exterior, but inside they can be fragile,” he said.

“Some people who come here come from outside Bristol. Sometimes, people need to get away to manage. For some, they get away from their ‘using environment’ and go to where they can get help.

“This is a residential rehab centre, and a therapeutic community. When the staff go home, the men - who might be in early or late stages of recovery - care and support each other.

“Staff are available, but they become responsible for each other. That is very powerful. There is a sense of belonging, a sense of brotherhood.

“That is a crucial element to recovery.”

James Dickinson, who founded the place, said Chandos is fighting to stay open, but is facing the stark reality of the cuts.

In a letter to former residents and supporters, he called it a “crisis appeal” and that the centre was facing the most serious threat to survival in their 35 years.

How you can help

Chandos House has been going for 35 years, but funding cuts mean it is facing closure.

It was recently reconstituted as a non-profit community interest company (CIC) and helps men recovering from alcoholism, substance misuse and psychological trauma, depression, anxiety and loss.

“Over the last year, despite all our hard work and success in turning people’s lives around, our local authority funding has been halved,” he said.

“And this comes at a time when we are seeing a greater need for our service, supporting vulnerable adults.

“This sudden cut in funding support obviously hinders our sustainability, and has led to us potentially considering closing our doors. As a consequence to remain open, we recently reduced the number of staff we employed by 50 per cent.

“We need to raise £100,000 in the short term to continue to provide this essential support, while we work towards diversifying our income streams and find new partners, so we may continue for another 35 years.”

Councillor Asher Craig, cabinet member for Communities and Equalities at Bristol City Council, said: “Through our drug and alcohol services we buy placements at different rehab centres for people who need this type of support.

“Chandos House is one of our approved providers and funding levels are defined by demand for placements, rather than a fixed amount per year, so funding goes up and down in line with demand.

“We know services such as this can support people in their recovery, which is why we recently introduced new recovery clinics promoting residential rehab across different parts of the city, details of which are available on our website.”

]]>Rehab centre supported by Russell Brand set to closehttp://chandoshouse.org/rehab-centre-supported-by-russell-brand-set-to-close/
Mon, 03 Sep 2018 11:59:45 +0000http://chandoshouse.org/?p=1812A fundraising campaign supported by Will Self and Russell Brand has failed to save a drug and alcohol rehab centre for men with addiction.

Chandos House helps men recovering from drug and alcohol addiction

Chandos House in Bristol did not raise the £100,000 needed to “stay open and alive”, director James Dickinson said.
He said the campaign had done all it could to save the centre, “but it’s not enough”.
It would shut in eight weeks, unless a “miracle” transformed its fortunes, he said.

Financial cuts from central and local government have seen essential funding and staff halved over the past year.
Staff and residents have been informed about the scheduled closure.

Mr Dickinson launched an urgent fundraising campaign last month but said a “recent national campaign to raise sufficient funds to maintain our vital service has been unable to achieve its target”.

James Dickinson helped to found the centre in Redland 35 years ago

He said: “We would like to thank Will Self and Russell Brand in particular for their hard work in promoting our cause, and for highlighting our plight in the face of swingeing austerity.”

Comedian Russell Brand - himself a former heroin addict - put a plea on Facebook asking people to “learn more about” Chandos House and said it was “a great tragedy that this place is threatened by closure”.
Will Self, a novelist and political commentator who struggled with heroin addiction, has also been supportive. He was involved with a fundraising night in August.

Mr Dickinson said the centre would continue its work until its scheduled closure, adding: “We remain hopeful for the miracle that might yet revive our fortune”.

Chandos House, the last residential drugs rehab in Bristol, has announced that it will close after 35 years.

The Redland rehab centre has been fundraising recently to stay open, but failed to reach its target of £100,000, despite widespread media coverage and support from Will Self, Russell Brand and a number of local artists.

Executive director James Dickinson said: “Chandos House Addiction Treatment Centre in Bristol is announcing that after 35 years of serving the community it will be closing in 10 weeks’ time. The recent national campaign to raise sufficient funds to maintain our vital service has been unable to achieve its target.”

“We would like to thank Will Self and Russell Brand in particular for their hard work in promoting our cause, and for highlighting our plight in the face of swingeing austerity. We would also like to thank our hundreds of friends who have in recent weeks joined our struggle to survive,” he said.

“We will continue our work until our closure, and we remain hopeful for the miracle that might yet revive our fortune.”

“The campaign remains open, optimistic of a reprieve. To this end we still need your financial support and our Local Giving page remains open. Please continue to highlight our plight as best you can. We will continue to raise the profile of this crisis and our campaign, and why this has to be prevented.”

The rehab centre offers treatment to up to 15 men, who either receive funding from their local council or pay for it themselves. The residential treatment is based on holistic approach with one-to-one support, groups sessions and creative activities like art and yoga, as well as access to aftercare once they have moved on.

Dickinson said the funding received from local councils had gone down and users were arriving with more complex needs, placing greater strain on staff and resources.

Referrals had also halved as councils were less prepared to pay for residential rehab, Dickinson said. As a result, men from Bristol used to make up nearly half of the residents, but now the average is just one.

As funding was reduced, they were forced to cut staff numbers in half, and as only £12,500 of the £100,000 target was raised, the centre will now close altogether.

The news comes as Bristol City Council has cut spending on drug and alcohol treatment by more than £1 million and new statistics show that drug poisoning deaths in the city are at almost record high levels.

Former residents told the Cable about how treatment at Chandos had saved their lives, and that the community of former users who go back to help out was an important part of their recovery.

In an interview with the Cable, writer Will Self was full of praise for Chandos House’s “warmth, the small scale and community”.

“It is a genuinely holistic approach which is treating the whole individual. It’s not a dichotomy between the mind and the body,” he said.

Art donated to the cause

A local artist calling himself Banksy No2 contacted the Cable about donating his artwork to Chandos House. The piece, which was on the outside of Stag and Hounds pub in Old Market, will now be sold at auction to raise money.

Ben Howell, a 47-year-old builder, removed the artwork from the pub, after getting a call from Dickinson early this morning. “I’ve known James for years, who has done some amazing things. It’s a personal issue for me so I’ve helped them out in the past,” he told the Cable.

Howell’s brother Chris has been at Chandos for the last three months to treat his alcohol addiction. “Chandos House has done wonders for my brother, which has also made my life easier,” Howell said.

“It transforms the lives of broken men. I’m absolutely gutted that it might close down. It’s very upsetting.”

]]>Bristol’s last residential rehab centre Chandos House to close after funding bid failshttp://chandoshouse.org/bristols-last-residential-rehab-centre-chandos-house-to-close-after-funding-bid-fails/
Mon, 03 Sep 2018 10:48:14 +0000http://chandoshouse.org/?p=1778Bristol’s last residential rehabilitation centre will close after a ‘crisis appeal’ failed to raise enough funds.

Chandos House in Redland has helped hundreds of men battling addiction and trauma during the past 35 years.

Earlier this year, the treatment centre launched an appeal after its funding was slashed by more than half. It needed £100,000 to stay afloat.

Celebrities who have battled addiction, including Will Self and Russell Brand, threw their weight behind the appeal, but sadly it did not raise the funds in time.

In a statement on Monday (September 3), the treatment centre said it will close in November.

James Dickinson, head of recovery and executive director, said: “Chandos House Addiction Treatment Centre in Bristol is announcing that after 35 years of serving the community it will be closing in 10 weeks’ time.

“The recent national campaign to raise sufficient funds to maintain our vital service has been unable to achieve its target.

We would like to thank Will Self and Russell Brand in particular for their hard work in promoting our cause, and for highlighting our plight in the face of swingeing austerity.

“We would also like to thank our hundreds of friends who have in recent weeks joined our struggle to survive. We will continue our work until our closure, and we remain hopeful for the miracle that might yet revive our fortune.”

]]>Comedian Russell Brand shows support for Bristol’s Chandos House with heartfelt pleahttp://chandoshouse.org/comedian-russell-brand-shows-support-for-bristols-chandos-house-with-heartfelt-plea/
Mon, 27 Aug 2018 11:00:27 +0000http://chandoshouse.org/?p=1784The clinic is under threat due to funding cuts

Earlier this month it was reported the last remaining residential rehab centre in Bristol is facing closure due to severe funding cuts.

Chandos House in Redland could shut its doors before the end of the year unless it manages to raise £100,000 in a short space of time, it was announced at the beginning of August.

Its owners, who have helped countless people get back on their feet following addiction, have launched a desperate appeal to keep the much-needed clinic running.

Chandos House has been providing its service for 35 years and has enjoyed huge success, with 86 per cent of men completing treatment and 97 per cent reporting that they experience an improved sense of psychological and emotional wellbeing following treatment.

But its Local Authority Substance Misuse budget has been reduced by one third in the past two years, placing its future in jeopardy.

If it does close, there will be no rehabilitation centre of this nature left in Bristol, which could prove catastrophic - and this is something Russell Brand is acutely aware of.

The award-winning comedian, actor and activist, who has battled addiction himself, has weighed in with support on his social media channels, sharing heartfelt messages and videos about the Bristol centre on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram - reaching a combined following of over 15 million people.

Russell Brand’s statement in full
“The treatment centre where I got clean has been closed. Treatment centres everywhere are threatened.

“Increasingly I feel that places like Chandos House, facilities built on love, providing compassion for vulnerable people who need help to discover their value, embody the change we need as a culture and individuals.

“Think of the many addicts we’ve lost, the people we love whose chance has now gone. Chandos House saves lives, creates community, more than a rehab - am alchemic crucible for human transformation- a cathedral of hope. Chandos House stands as last stop before the street and the graveyard and our action is required to prevent its closure.

“Please act while you can. Attend their fundraiser today if you can get to Bristol or donate here.”

Brand has abstained from drug use since 2002 and is now a patron of the Focus 12 drug treatment programme, acting as a “sponsor” for numerous people during the rehabilitation stage of their treatment process.

Chandos House, where men receiving treatment refer to themselves as ‘Chandos brothers’, was recently reconstituted as a non-profit community interest company (CIC) and helps men recovering from alcoholism, substance misuse and psychological trauma, depression, anxiety and loss.

Speaking to Bristol Live when the initial announcement was made, councillor Asher Craig, cabinet member for Communities and Equalities at Bristol City Council, said: “Chandos House is one of our approved providers and funding levels are defined by demand for placements, rather than a fixed amount per year, so funding goes up and down in line with demand.

“We know services such as this can support people in their recovery, which is why we recently introduced new recovery clinics promoting residential rehab across different parts of the city, details of which are available on our website.”

]]>Will Self Interview: Rehab and Bristol’s “nasty” drug problemhttp://chandoshouse.org/will-self-interview-rehab-and-bristols-nasty-drug-problem/
Fri, 17 Aug 2018 12:18:49 +0000http://chandoshouse.org/?p=1817After overcoming his own addiction, writer Will Self is back in rehab, this time to help keep it open.
Original article posted by The Bristol Cable click to read. By Matty Edwards on 17th August, 2018. Photo: Chris Close

“At a spiritual level it’s a disaster, it’s just basically saying we’re going to lie around in our own shit.”

Addiction is a deeply personal issue for Self, who was a heroin user for years and spent six months at Broadway Lodge rehab in Weston-Super-Mare in the 1980s. It’s an issue that he has both written and spoken about openly since it publically cost him his job as a columnist for The Observer in the late 90s.

“When I first cleaned up in 1986, I’d been an injecting heroin addict for seven years. I was 25 years old. I wouldn’t be alive if I hadn’t gone to rehab then,” he tells me.
However, the approach was very different back then. Self describes it as a kind of “boot camp” that was “tough” and “confrontative”.

“My councillors said to me: ‘they call us brainwashers here, but we’ve got to wash your brain because it’s dirty.’ It was very much this idea that the addict’s ego is diseased and it has to literally be killed and replaced.”

But rehab did have a positive impact – he was clean for two and a half years and kicked his needle habit for good. “I relapsed for a further decade after that but here’s the thing: I had a bad needle habit in my teens and 20s but I never went back to shooting up drugs.”

He eventually got clean in the late 90s with the help of long-term self-help programmes. “I didn’t go back into rehab when I got clean in 1999 because I already had the grounding.”

A little rehab in Bristol?

As a recovering drug user, he became involved with charities providing treatment in prisons, and contributed to the Recoverist Manifesto, a project that tried to challenge misconceptions about drug users in an attempt to give addiction a human face. It was through this that he was approached by a little rehab in Bristol, Chandos House, who asked him to help with their fundraising.

At first Self said no, sceptical of how people with public notoriety were commodotised by the charity sector which was becoming like a “weird parody of neoliberal late capitalism”. However, things changed when he befriended someone who was sleeping rough and looking for a possible rehab.

“I think the reason we have such a crisis with homelessness is partly because of this elevated and distorted charitable sector, which allows people collectively to forget about personal compassion. People’s reactions to things like homelessness and the evidence of drink and drug problems in the streets is fear.

“I think because I was an addict myself for over 20 years I’ve lived in those environments, I’m quite a toughie. I’m not scared and so what I do is I’m always friendly with one or other homeless person.”

Self decided to try and help his friend out and give Chandos a go. After meeting the staff and residents earlier this year, he decided “these are my kind of people.”

“When I come back to Chandos, it’s like I’m back at Broadway Lodge in 1986, I swear to you. It’s weird, as if 30 years have just melted away – and not in a bad way. I feel a rush of affection and remember the guys.

“A lot of treatment centres to my way of thinking embody the middle class fear of the other that is represented by addictive illness and these kinds of social problems. You’ll have realised when you walked in the door that it’s not like that. It’s completely different. I got it the second I walked through the door.

“It is a genuinely holistic approach which is treating the whole individual. It’s not a dichotomy between the mind and the body.”

He thinks Chandos would have helped him because of the “warmth, the small scale and community.”

“Frankly the absence of women is a real help. I was a young man, I was young, dumb and very much full of cum, absolutely obsessed sexually and women are my thing so having women present was a distraction. There is something about the kind of brotherhood ethic that I find more supportive.”

“Bristol has a savage, nasty little drug scene”

Self’s workshop at Chandos is on psychogeography – a series of techniques that help you creatively engage with place and space – where you are. It is for residents of Chandos and members of the public, in an attempt to “break down the barriers”.

“You’re not some kind of weird alien the minute you go into rehab or you admit to these kinds of problems. It may not look like it but this is a mental hospital. Addiction is a mental illness and a physical illness so it’s breaking down those boundaries.”

Self thinks that abstinence-based treatment, which Chandos practises, is the best approach. “You can’t get drug addicts off drugs by giving them drugs. People have got to get clean.”

“If somebody is clean for five years they become a – to use the dreaded word – a useful, productive member of society, whereas someone on methadone or subutex, they’re not really going to be running fucking British Steel are they?”

For Self, addiction is not a personal problem but a societal one. With the “steady whittling away of public services under austerity conditions”, we are failing to deal with it.

“Bristol has a savage, nasty little street-level drug scene.

Chandos is aimed at people from largely disadvantaged backgrounds who ended up often on the street so it’s directly addressing the problem that Bristol very obviously has.

“You only have to walk through the centre of town and you see it everywhere – Spice seems to have hit Bristol quite hard – how fucked up is that?

“What kind of civic pride can there be when you see the victims of the addictive illness, men and women lying around in your front garden, because that’s how bad it is. At that level is basic hygiene. It’s spiritually damaging to civic culture to have that going on.”

“You can also just make the crude economic argument that every addict going into a program like this is stopping nicking, being a public order problem, stopping assaulting their partner, stopping neglecting their children, stopping driving dangerously. The multiplier effect is massive so if you can’t see your way to being genuinely altruistic, you can understand it in self-interest.”

With drug and alcohol budgets being cut and users often dismissed or ignored, it feels like this message is yet to resonate.

Chandos House is threatened by closure. Former residents there speak out about how treatment got them clean.

“I was literally near death. I was skinny, I couldn’t work, I couldn’t function without having a drink inside me.” Just 18 months later Dave Hill gave up alcohol and says Chandos House saved his life.

Located in leafy Redland, the last drug rehab centre in Bristol is on the brink of closure and fundraising to secure its future.

As reported by the Cable, funding cuts are hitting Bristol’s drug and alcohol services hard. Chandos House’s executive director James Dickinson says the funding received from local councils has forced them to cut staff numbers in half and raise extra money to keep treatment going.

Fundraising attempts have been boosted by support from celebrities Will Self and Bristol street artist Inkie, but Dickinson says the centre will have to close within weeks if £100,000 isn’t raised.

The rehab centre offers treatment to up to 15 men, who either receive funding from their local council or pay for it themselves. The residential treatment is based on hollistic approach with one-to-one support, groups sessions and creative activities like art and yoga, as well as access to aftercare once they have moved on.
However, referrals to Chandos House have halved recently as councils are less prepared to pay for residential rehab, Dickinson says, with the average number of Bristolians entering treatment going from six to one.

The Cable spoke to former Chandos House residents about addiction, rehab and recovery.

Dave Hill, 29

Dave Hill, 29

It is Christmas 2016 in Plymouth. Dave Hill has been in and out of hospital and spent time in police cells, all because of a legal drug – alcohol. “If I went through that Christmas, I probably would have drunk myself to death,” he tells the Cable.

“I was literally near death. I was skinny, I couldn’t work, I couldn’t function without having a drink inside me. If I didn’t have a drink, I’d shake, have seizures, I’d drop down to the floor.”

A doctor tells him: “If you don’t have a drink, you will die.” “It was quite scary for a doctor to tell me that because I didn’t really know I was an alcoholic,” Dave recalls.

“My life was going nowhere, I was a disappointment to my family so they wanted the change. I wanted the change.” Dave’s family said they’d pay for rehab and he got funding for treatment at Chandos House in Bristol.

“Eventually this place did save me. This place gave me a structure to my life and made me understand why I drank, that there’s a life after drink, that life didn’t revolve around drinking.”

We meet on a scorching hot July day on which England are in the semi-final of the World Cup. Thousands of people are congregating on the streets of Bristol in a short-lived moment of shared national experience – lubricated with a pint or two of beer.

“Now you’ve got the football going on, nice weather, all that would have been an excuse to drink but now I look at it like I don’t need to have a drink to have a good time,” he says.

For Dave, “every day is a struggle” while in recovery, but he seems happy with his new life.

“I love Bristol. I’ve got everything I want here. Now I can remember things. I’m not waking up thinking ‘what happened last night?’. I’m not having three litres of cider and relying on that to get me through the day.”

Instead, helping people is getting him through the day – by volunteering at three different places, including a charity shop and helping others in recovery.

How does it feel to help? “It’s massive. My work before was labouring, doing odd jobs, I would never have done volunteering, I thought it would have got me nowhere, but in reality it’s a relief helping other people. I enjoy giving back to what helped me.”

Dave has been clean for a year and has rebuilt relationships with his family. “Everyone’s proud of me. My parents live in New Zealand. but it’s nice I get a lot of praise from them. I’ve got my whole family back in my life now.”

He isn’t getting ahead of himself, though, and is taking each day as it comes. “Every day I’m recovery. I can’t forget that and it’ll probably be a full-time thing until the day I die.”

Tony Hill, 60

Tony Hill, 60

“The more horrible things a person does to get drugs, the further they move away from themselves. I became the person that the drugs made me.”

Tony Fortune has been grappling with addiction for most of his life. He first took drugs when he was 17 and has just left Chandos House at the age of 60, looking for a fresh start.

After finding success working in theatre in London and performing in Covent Garden as a young man, Tony’s drug use started to get the better of him.

“I had enough money to do copious amounts of cocaine, as well as drink and heroin. I ended up squatting over Kings Cross, getting involved in shoplifting. I was in and out of prison. I was a sad young man and any direction was lost.

“The drugs started to take over and my desire for drugs became a lot stronger than my desire for life. I would go to any lengths to get more. My using got harder and so did I.”

Petty crimes became organised crime, armed robberies and drug dealing. “I ended up just becoming a very violent man, but the more I took, the more I wasn’t being true to myself, because I am actually quite a sensitive, caring person,” he says.

He managed to get clean for 15 years and finally felt his parents were proud of him. But then personal tragedy struck. “My sister died, and a few months later my mum died and a few months later my dad died. A long term relationship ended because I became a different person.”

After falling off the wagon, it all became too much. “It got to a point where people were getting stabbed, people were trying to stab me over a few hundred quid.”

He was getting too old and couldn’t do it anymore. Using all the money he had, he booked into treatment, and after a detox, where he was “pushed around in a wheelchair for two weeks”, he ended up at Chandos House.

“When I first came here I didn’t realise how angry I was, I could start a fight in the mirror. It’s only through love and understanding here that I’ve managed to get through to myself.”

“It’s the only place that I know of in the country that has a really different kind of approach to addiction. They look at the whole being instead of just the cause of the disease. It’s about positivity, it’s holistic.”

Now that he’s done that, he is looking to relaunch his career in theatre, to start with by putting on puppet shows at the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft.

Giles, 47

“I was a heroin and crack addict for 20 years. It pulled my life apart, I had a chaotic, destructive life and it got more and more chaotic and destructive. It was hurting people around me, family, friends.”

Giles has just left Chandos House after four months as a resident. Originally from London, he bounced around different rehabs before landing in Bristol.

About two years ago, things had to get worse before they got better. “It got to the point where I was left on my own with nothing to live for, having suicidal thoughts. I had a few big arguments with my close friends and it was put to me that if I didn’t sort this out, I would die. I was given a bit of assistance to get to rehab in Bournemouth where I started to take responsibility for myself.”

Later, a stint at Chandos House helped Giles get clean, but he then relapsed and ended up homeless. In a mess, he went back to Chandos, who took him in again for a full course of treatment.

“It’s been life changing and life saving,” he says. “What they do here is treat everyone as a person not a generic addict patient with a one-size-fits-all approach. It very much caters for each person and lets everyone become themselves – the person they should be.”

But for Giles, getting clean is not just a triumph for himself, but for everyone. “What addicts do affects society in general, and councils and governments don’t realise that. If you don’t treat me, you’re gonna pay in crime, in prison, in NHS health bills through the roof. As it stands, I don’t commit crime, go to the hospital, I pay my taxes.”

Now in a dry house, “things are starting to fall into place,” Giles says. “I’m feeling good now. I’ll be staying in Bristol. Confident is probably the wrong word, but I feel positive,” he adds.

“There’s a danger with addicts that you want to achieve everything instantly. Like with any project, you need to build solid foundations and go from there – all the things that addicts aren’t very good at – but I’m learning patience.”

Some of the positive messages dotted around Chandos House

Kenny Fenti, 55

Kenny Fenti is another former resident at Chandos House. He is 16 months clean after being a heroin addict for 30 years.

“I’ve done a lot of treatment, a lot of rehabs. I personally didn’t realise that I suffered from trauma.”

“It was (Chandos House) that made me start looking at stuff I didn’t want to look at, especially childhood stuff. I noticed the more risks I took, the more I felt lighter. I had a lot of baggage I was bringing with me but never looked into so it was a place where I could take the bag off, put it on the floor and pick out what I wanted to look at, you know.”

Kenny has been in an out of treatment for 25 years, including rehabs where you get shouted at and put down. “I don’t need people putting me down – I’ve been putting myself down for years.”

By contrast, it was the positivity of Chandos that made the difference. “That’s what sort of broke the barrier for me. I was used to hardcore rehabs but people said I needed love and to love myself again. You know when you’ve had no love or kindness in your life and you come here and that’s all they give you, it’s unfamiliar sometimes but it opened my heart.”

He grew up in Brixton in south London, has never really worked and didn’t succeed at school. But now, as well as doing mentoring at Chandos, which helps him give back and “stay grounded”, he’s studying at college and doing volunteering at mental health services at Callington Road hospital in Brislington.

“I talk to the patients, because sometimes the patients there don’t trust the workers so won’t declare everything to the doctors. When they find out we’re not a doctor, nurse or psychiatrist, they talk to us a lot.

“This time last year I didn’t expect me to do anything like that. The tables have turned 360, man.”

“Because I’ve done so many hostels and wet houses, that’s where I’d like to channel myself and help and give back – a night worker or support worker in one of those hostel places, where people have given up on addicts and don’t want to touch them.”

He’s now living in a dry house in Henleaze with four others, two of whom also used to be at Chandos. “It’s a nice little community. Bristol is different. I’ve got to say it’s a very nice place. I like the diversity, I was working at the Carnival. It’s got so much to offer. London’s a bit hardcore, a bit too much. Bristol isn’t like that. I feel comfortable here, no stress.”